Plans cancelled and now I'm stuck.

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I had plans for today. Not a lot but I had some plans. The person I was going to meet up with has been sick since a few days back and she still doesn't feel well so she had to cancel. My plans are cancelled. I have nothing else planned and I'm not happy with that. When she texted me and cancelled an hour or so ago, it felt a little like my day fell apart. Structure disappeared. I understand that she's sick so it's not like I'm angry with her or anything. I just don't know what to do now.

"Just watch a movie, read a book or something and relax." What people don't get is that I can't relax. My head is filled with thoughts all the time and as soon as I have time to think, I feel very depressed and anxious. I don't know why. So I try to keep myself busy (even though I sometimes worry I'll burn myself out). Today I have no plans. I only have time to think. It's not even 9am over here and I'm already hitting my head against my pillow repeatedly, tossing and turning in bed and can't figure out what to do with my life. I don't know what to do or where to start. Nope. I don't know what what to do (it took me 30 minutes to force myself to go get my laptop so I could write this and now I'm stuck again). I'm stuck.

Do things like this ever happen to you? What should I do? I'm not feeling so good right now.

It's going to be a long summer.

It does happen. Find a book to read. You´´ll get your focus back while reading.

Just a few more ideas:

Other things that can help: Walk (fast-walk, exercise type of walk), exercise, anything physical (cleaning the house for example), or whatever you may like, but try to stay focused on what you are doing and nothing else as much as possible.

There is also relaxation and/or meditation, there is different types tho, but one that helps me relax is the type where you relax your body and then imagine a relaxing scene (you start with, for example your feet, and imagine one of your feet is getting very heavy, take a few seconds until the feeling "sinks in" (you can take as long as you need, it can be 30 seconds or it can be more), then do the same with the other foot, then your legs, then your knees, etc etc , until you have relaxed your whole body and you feel heavy, after this you imagine that your body becomes very light, like a feather (always take the time to let the feeling sink in after each body part), at this point you will barely feel your body. Then after this imagine a scene that is relaxing to you, it could be, for example, you relaxing on a chair on a boat on a sunny day, or laying down on a bed, at night, in a nice large room, with a patio door and a nice breeze, and you can also hear the ocean outside the room, (it can be anything that makes you feel good), and you can stick with this scene as long as you wish. Apart from the fact that it is relaxing, another part that is important about this relaxation is that it keeps your mind engaged the whole time, you have to focus on your body, and then on the scene.

Thanks.

I find that exercise helps quite a bit when I can't take my mind off things. After starting this thread it took me 2.5 hours to force myself out of bed. After that I did what my psychologist and I agreed on the other day: when I'm stuck in my head and can't get out of there, go do some cycling. Cycled about 8 kliometers (about 5 miles), which isn't that far but really helps anyway. Now I'm feeling better. Not good but at least a little bit better. Just afraid I'll start feeling depressed again soon.

Reading is nice (I read a lot) too but it doesn't always help. Not on days like this.

Glad to "hear" that you are feeling a little better

Can you figure out what is making you anxious? I think the standard answer to questions like this is to try and solve the underlying cause... Maybe you can.

I think I have the same problem, or something similar, so I have to keep myself occupied in order to not think so much. It's really hard to relax.

For me doing cardio at the gym clears my thinking a bit, so I get to think of something else, listen to some music and feel like I'm doing something useful. Perhaps you could try running or something to complement the bike, so you get more intensity.

My nurse suggest I do mindfulness- exercises, like one where you listen to a recording of someone telling you to focus on a body part... Like start with your toes, then feet all the way to your fingertips.

Multitasking like watching TV and surfing Internet at the same time can work in situations where doing one thing like watching a movie or reading a book can't keep your thoughts from racing.